Sound of One Hand Clapping
by HorseTechie
Summary: When they said there shouldn't be any secrets between them as Paladins, these words alone troubled Pidge profoundly. There was so much yet to be revealed. One-shot series highlighting three of the teammates, and how one significant event had ties them together. Hints of Hunk/Pidge, Keith & Pidge friendhip. (Keith and Shiro as adopted brother AU)
1. One Hand Clapping

**AN: So, here is my stab at a Voltron fic… as a formal disclaimer, this show and its characters belong to DreamWorks and all afflicted parties. Not me!**

 **Updated this with more details just to make it a touch longer.**

 **That being said, please enjoy!**

* * *

 **Sound of One Hand Clapping**

The whole process of locating her black suit and pulling it on with armor fully activated, all in under thirty seconds, was something Pidge took personal pride in figuring out. She still had ducked into her room to do so out of habit though. Her heart rate was finally starting to feel more normal from the adrenaline rush that she experienced earlier too. Opening up to the others about her biggest secret had surprisingly gone a lot smoother than what Pidge had imagined, especially after the blow-up that occurred when she told them she wanted to leave.

Keith's angry confrontation about leaving still weighed heavy on her, despite Shiro's reassurances that it wasn't just her decision that made him upset. Maybe it was his own regrets about bad decisions. Pidge realized she did not have much opportunity to explain why yet she was pretending to be a boy. After they had admitted to somehow figuring it out before she told, they just left it at that. And yet, the redhead did wonder exactly _how_ everyone but Lance had figured out who she was. Shiro promised her secret was safe with him, and he didn't sound like the type to go against his word and gossip. Her next guess was Hunk, due to his overly inquisitive nature about her tech and stuff. Then she distinctly recalled Keith's curt comparison of her family with all the other lives in the galaxy. It was that he said _two_.

Pidge had to admit she really did not pay close attention to who was who before enrolling in at the Garrison. Lance did, from how he would talk about others in their class ranks. She did not always actively listen to everything when the chatty paladin conversed with her and Hunk, especially when her focus was more engaged on research and programming tech. It often became prattle, idle chit chat. Why did she have to know who was who, and where their rank was in relation to what year at the Garrison and at what classification? Well, when said person also knew the pilot who went to Kerberos with her father and brother, she should have realized that connection sooner. That's how Keith figured it out.

Being so caught up in these thoughts had caught her off guard when she found the big guy standing at her door when it slid open, his closed hand still raised as if he was going to knock. At least Hunk took the time to suit up first before coming over to her quarters.

"Um… what is it?" Pidge cocked an eyebrow, glancing up at him. She clearly must have Lance rubbing off on her, because the next snarky response just came to her in a crazy way to just make this awkward situation a little more so. "If it's to ask me out on a date, the answer's 'no'."

"Oh, gosh, no.. _why_ would I? I mean.. uh.." he was waving his hands around in alarm.

Yep, that got a good reaction out of him. She seriously doubted Hunk would like her in that way, but the manner in which the timid boy denied in liking _anyone_ , especially Shay, was almost cute. Somehow, the very thought that she actually thought of him as cute had also left her in a small panic. Heck, all four of those guys struck her as being cute in some way, despite the fact they were a few years older. And that was terribly annoying, and now she had no choice but to stay there. And continue putting up with them.

The younger paladin quickly replaced that thought with another question before her hesitation became really that obvious. "Why else do you keep poking around in my stuff?"

"Well, uhm.. I was going to check and see if you still have any of those marshmallowy things on a stick left. Cause like if this castle launching doesn't go as smoothly as planned, well… just a little something to pass the time with. Because it's been a long time since this castle flew, and.. I don't want to go to the dining area if we'll be launching," he asked, his closed hands raised up suggestively in front of his chest. The yellow Paladin was definitely uneasy about something again. He probably noticed her awkwardness too. Great.

Pidge bit the inside of her lip, trying to not dwell too much on how silly she must also sound whenever she rambled nervously. Nervous rambling does sound ridiculous to another's ears.

"Sure that's a good idea? … it is a _launching_ ," the technical genius countered, otherwise reminding Hunk of his struggle with his queasiness and excessive motion.

He frowned, conceding to that point, even though he was getting better about that. The yellow Paladin had reasoned that he felt more in control when he was piloting his lion, otherwise more prepared for what came next. Yellow was most likely helping him keep his head on straight too. But she had a good guess Hunk finally was feeling much more confident about everything due to all the extra training that they've been doing. The engineer was fairly bright, and she had to admit his technical knowledge was actually useful.

Feeling as if she expected more, he shifted his stance, relaxing his hands a bit. "Okay, I also was just wondering why you were hiding the fact that you were a girl. And.. that I'm running out of answers for Lance."

Lance was an idiot, what more could she say.

"Can I ask how long you knew?"

"Kind of.. for awhile," he looked shifty again, quickly jumping to another topic. "But before the castle was attacked, I was hanging out with Keith. He said something about why you were so worked up about the aliens we found on that ship."

"Like what?"

"Like that you also looked like the kid on Shiro's team. What was his name, Matt?"

Pidge bit her lip again, upon hearing her brother's name. Her assumption that Keith figured her out from that was correct. That Nunvil stuff really must have been like a truth serum too, if not like some alcoholic earth drink, if it made the normally quiet and aloof fighter pilot that chatty. Biggest reason why she dared not drink any of it at that party.

"Matt's my brother, and my dad was the scientist who wanted to study the composition of the moon," she responded quietly.

"Well, before Keith left the Garrison, he used to be on a training team with Shiro. While they were in transition to Kerberos, Keith would get transmissions sent to him – I guess he was best friends with Shiro too. Sometimes it would be all three of them, and Matt would make the occasional well wishes for their family too."

She felt another pang of sadness. She only saw the transmissions with just her dad and Matt. With the lag time in transmission, they were simply video greetings and not like a live streaming video chat. She had made a couple to send back with her mom and her dog, but she did not know if they had been received before the incident.

"Did Keith get mad because he wasn't on the Kerberos mission?" That next thought occurred to her.

Hunk shook his head 'no'. "Keith was still lower in rank.. so even though his piloting skills were good, he wasn't cleared to go on interplanetary missions yet."

"So did he get peeved about what happened to Shiro?" Pidge quirked the corner of her mouth at the irony. Maybe that was the connection… she was not the only one to realize what happened to the mission was not by pilot error. Or why Lance guarded her from Commander Iversion when she went off on him about that. No thanks to Keith, and then her getting caught hacking into the commander's database, that topic became a very sore spot.

Keith's outburst earlier about her leaving did catch her off guard though. Coming from someone who dropped out himself, it still made her think. The Red Paladin never got that mad before with any of them, but they haven't really been together that long yet to know what it was like to be pushed to their limits.

"I guess…?" Hunk rubbed the back of his neck in thought. "That picture though… totally sorry for thinking like your brother was you, and you were, uh.. your girlfriend."

"Um, yeah," she confirmed that call, knowing how everyone pretty much has seen her memory of her one picture by now.

"But, the Garrison accepts girls… how—"

She already had an answer for that, since it was something she had been mulling over in her mind many times before finally coming out with her secret. "My mom worked as an administrative assistant in the registration office, and I helped her with clerical stuff. So… it was easy to slip into the commander's office and look through his transmission feeds and other data to find out what really happened on the mission. Until... I got caught. He banned me from even setting foot on Garrison property! My mom was ticked. I mean, she didn't care about the truth now, and it made no difference to her if they were not dead, but instead taken by aliens. But.. it was not fair that the Garrison doesn't care, and just uses lies! I was not going to let Iverson get away with those lies!" she was surprised to feel her temper flaring, and pressed her lips together to get a handle on that again. Hunk appeared evermore on edge as well, but the curiosity was also there to know how this happened.

"But since I was familiar with the registration process from working there, I falsified my records and enrolled under a completely different identity to get back in."

"Wow, okay… how did that work though? You're practically a spitting image of your brother. Just a little... younger."

She just pursed her lips, not answering that query. She felt like she said enough on the subject. Just the way he said 'younger', however, bothered her again. As if being the only girl paladin wasn't bad enough, she was also the youngest of all of them. Like the child prodigy. This left her feeling she had to prove herself, to show her strength, because it she did not want them to feel like they have to cater to her level. She certainly was not like most girls, and did not have the desire to spend time on things like looking pretty and socializing.

"We should get going," Pidge motioned instead, stepping from the doorway of her room to let the door slide shut. They walked in silence down the quickly illuminating hallway toward the control deck.

The events of everything certainly left her head in a spin. Yet, it helped her see what was really important too. The odd connection of one mission gone wrong and how that seemed to have started a chain reaction of events that brought them all together. The energy signatures were part of that too, but just how it happened was beyond her understanding. She sighed, glancing briefly to her big teammate ahead of her. Pidge finally agreed that they all were becoming like brothers, siblings, in the way they watched out for each other in this new role they took on. The team was her new family away from home, and her surrogate brothers.

From what she could sense, Hunk seemed okay with her being the way she was. How he gravitated to her when the others weren't around still intriqued her. The obvious reason was in the fact they both like technology and engineering. She also wondered if Hunk had siblings he had relied on when he needed affirmation.

Fortunately, the trip to Balmera had helped change Hunk's mindset about wanting to go back to Earth. Pidge noticed that much about him when he came back with Coran. He also had realized what it meant to be a Paladin. That made her feel better, knowing her announcement that she wanted to leave hadn't adversely affected her two closest team mates in the long run. The green Paladin was there to stay. They all were.

* * *

 **AN:**

 **Yes.. I admit to watching the first handful of eps a few times over to connect the dots on this, cause the reason _why_ Pidge was a boy went over my head at first (only because I wasn't paying attention at first). It took even more thinking to figure out the backstories with them too! My 10 yr old son was just like Lance when she confessed. *nods***

 **I do think Pidge and Hunk are cute together though. I have a thing for nerds, I guess. Lance just adds to it, in seeing how those three still cling to each other like it is the only familiar thing they have from Earth.**

 **Thank you for reading!**


	2. Two Left Feet

**AN: I decided to add one-shots from Pidge's other teammates on this. The dynamics between these guys are so fun to play with. This one below was an idea that came to me after a post from one reviewer. Because Lance is just that relentless. Enjoy! ;p**

* * *

 **Two Left Feet**

Pidge and Hunk had not reached the control deck yet when the Blue Paladin had joined them in the light-up hallway. The mischievous grin on the lanky teen's face was all that Pidge needed as a warning before he even spoke. Regardless of that, she did feel relieved that Lance was back to being that way. He was really out of it earlier before they put him in the healing pod.

"What about the really important questions?" Lance prompted as he raised his thin eyebrow, "Like _why_ were you acting like a boy?"

The redhead sighed, subspacing a translucent green screen coming from her gauntlet. Hunk had wondered earlier how long it would take to get to Balmera on the castle ship, and so they were doing the calculations. She stopped walking at this point to answer the cocky pilots question. "To find out the truth about the Kerberos mission."

"Yeah, but.. what's that have to do with your gender bend?" Lance held out both of his hands, becoming a little more animated as he spoke, in the soft blue illumination of the hallway.

"I had snuck into the Garrison to access their databases about the mission, but I got caught," her eyes shifted to the floor, then over to Hunk briefly. This being the second time telling this tale, she decided to change it up a little more. Pidge briefly frowned when she imagined again the crazy stories the Garrison must be reporting about her team's disappearance. "The government clearly doesn't want anyone to know about aliens or other worlds. So they made up that lame excuse about a pilot error. But I wasn't going to let the Garrison stop me from proving that it was _aliens_ – which we now know as the Galra – who took Shiro and my family. Since I was banned as myself, I went back in as a young prodigy transfer student."

Her sincere answer seemed to grab their attention, from the intent looks on both of their faces.

"Wait, how did the higher-ups _not_ notice how much you looked like your brother?" the teen pilot quizzed her further, as if he was trying to sound more genuinely concerned. Was that actually possible?

"I claimed to be a relative," she explained more openly, feeling that his curiosity was not going to be as bad as she feared. He had exchanged glances with Hunk, most likely deciding the officials at the Garrison really were that gullible.

"Did your mom know what you were doing at the Garrison? Or did you.. run away from home?" Lance actually appeared a little poignant by the time the last question was asked. That was a side she hadn't seen of Lance that much.

"Yes," that was all she could say when another pang of guilt struck her. Her mom was very mad that she got in trouble with the Commander, and was terminated from her first part time job that she had in the registration office. Even if it was to find out about their family, her mom wished she would not cause so much trouble. So she had to be very careful in not getting caught this time. The running away part… she didn't think that would be a problem until they literally left the planet. The redhead could only imagine how the Garrison was trying to figure out her last trick, as Pidge Gunderson, in regard to contacting 'his' next of kin.

Pidge still worried worry for her mom, even more so after they left. The job there at the Garrison was her mother's primary line of income, now that her dad wasn't there. At least the Garrison offered her that much support. But listening to her mother's silent weeping that first night when the news was officially broadcasted was hard. Not as hard as the more personal notification from the Garrison officer at the front door bearing the bad news. It was all bad news, no matter how it was explained; only further rubbed raw by even more false claims. For her mother, Katie promised to set this right by finding them, for her. Getting this far into space, it was perfect, because it gave her that fighting chance to actually get closer to finding the Galra who took them. To rescue them. This was what she had explained to Shiro, since he earned her trust by always having the right answers to help her.

Hunk was quick to notice the shadow that fell across her face as she worked through that answer. He stepped closer, patting her a couple times on the shoulder. Just his silent gesture to show his concern, she realized that. But it was enough for her to push down her angry feelings before they got to be too much. Now was really not the time to get worked up about that. A part of her also didn't feel comfortable yet about burdening these two with her drama, especially Lance.

"Um.. sorry?" the lanky teen managed a look of sympathy mixed with awe, raising both eyebrows once realizing the feels he brought upon her.

"I'm not going back, empty handed. That's not an option," the Green Paladin exhaled her final thought out loud, glancing away from their concerned looks. She knew how much the two boys complained about not ever going back home, but… that was a thought she never allowed herself to have. Her family was her home, and without them, she had nothing to go back to. Her one driving hope was that if Shiro survived, as well as the other prisoners that they found, then her dad and brother still have to be somewhere out there too.

"Of course…" Lance rubbed his neck, realizing the awkward situation he walked himself into. His brown eyes shifted off to a particular band of illumination on the wall as if trying to think about something else.

Pidge decided to be the first to take a step in the direction toward their destination again, causing a new section of hallway to light up.

"Are those fake glasses? Because you don't wear them all the time... like when your helmet's on," the Blue Paladin apparently must be trying to lighten the mood again with more silly questions.

"They're readers…" the youngest Paladin said, not even bothering to stop this time. "I'm farsighted."

"Oh... yeah.."

Hunk's groan of disbelief from Lance's response was noticeable that time.

"But she was undercover! Wearing different stuff is what spies do!" Lance walked backward as he explained himself to Hunk, in true Lance form. He turned back to look at Pidge and grab her attention again. "Did you steal from your brother's wardrobe too?"

"Why would I? The Garrison provided all the uniforms," she shot back to Lance, narrowing her eyes to slits. "The civvies are all mine."

"Those were your clothes?"

"Matt was about your age. How am I able to wear something three sizes too big?"

"Hand me downs…?"

Now he was getting annoying. Pidge continued her glare a beat longer, but he still had one more. Apparently.

"But if you're like fourteen… um, does that make you old enough to need that _other_ stuff.. like bras and –"

Her swearing cut him off when Pidge stopped to face him. "Seriously, Lance!?"

He shrugged, letting his eyebrows talk as he raised them to emphasize the fact he thought this was a perfectly good question. Hunk had the look of amused shock, however, that the conversation went this way. The only way she could imagine why on earth Lance would feel compelled ask, was that he must have sisters of his own.

Pidge concluded that if he was going to play this kind of game, she might as well have some fun herself. Especially since none of them had the chance to pack before they slipped through that wormhole. "How are you guys managing to stay so clean shaven?"

"Veeeery carefully," Lance exaggerated his tone while rubbing his chin with thumb and forefinger.

"We've been using one of Coran's… grooming.. devices," Hunk responded that time, using his hands to describe it.

Well, of course. That also could have been why Lance had gone pale after drinking that Nunvil punch, when she overheard Coran talking about its other properties. Fortunately, Alteans were similar to humans when it came to hygiene. How much so, Pidge wasn't sure exactly yet, but the thought of having to talk to Allura about her forthcoming plight of womanhood left her feeling rather uneasy. Much to her exasperated delight, she was a late bloomer amongst her peers. It was bad enough being a couple grades ahead of others her age when she went to high school. But still looking like a little kid in a sea of matured teens… that got old fast.

"I am so glad they have something like showers too, cuz I never thought I would miss _deodorant_ ," Lance felt the need to announce that detail next, gesturing to one of his armpits.

"I couldn't agree more!" Hunk nodded. "My uniform still reeks, even after cleaning it."

"Especially after sweating _bullets_ after just _one_ of Allura's training sessions!"

Pidge mentally facepalmed at the audacity of these two, even if it was possibly Hunk's way of steering the conversation away from her. However, she was not going to tell them she had her own anti-perspirant in her backpack, the one she had with her when they left. While she didn't carry girly items like make-up, essential things like deodorant was something she always had with her simply because she really did not like having sweaty, stinky armpits.

"It's true, you guys completely stink," Pidge told them, confirming the sad truth. She smiled slightly, adding one last thought. "In more ways that one."

"Ooh.. brutal!" Lance crooned, catching her jest.

They were in sight of the main control area, where a couple of the others were visible. The Yellow Paladin stepped up ahead of them, pausing a moment to explain his leave, "I'm going to see if Coran knows how long it'll take to get to Balmera after we launch."

"This Balmera chick must really be hot stuff if he's that driven," the lanky teen mused.

"It's because the Galra had captured her when Hunk was leaving," Pidge decided to remind him.

Lance nodded, only to have that curiously sly smile creep across his face. "So… did any girls try to flirt with you at the Garrison?"

Pidge eyes were suddenly very wide at this uncalled for kind if question. Grimacing, she quickly summoned her Bayard and promptly zapped Lance in the side. The white and green device was quickly subspaced before she attracted further attention.

Shiro still noticed what happened, since Lance was buckled over on the floor near Pidge. "Leave her alone, Lance," he added, for extra measure.

The Blue Paladin finally straightened up, whimpering something about needing the healing pod again while going over to his chair.

"What did you just do?" Keith had to ask Lance.

"Something apparently stupid…" he muttered.

Squelching her anger, Pidge passed by Hunk on her way to her seat. Just from the way her looked at her, the big guy had one last question too, much to her chagrin.

"Are you going to grow your hair out?" Hunk whispered.

The Green Paladin gave him a flat stare to also shut it.

He then responded just as quietly, sensing her bad mood. "I thought it looked pretty long."

She was silent for a moment, not sure what to say to that. "Thanks," came her soft reply, before going to her seat. Somehow, Pidge's cheeks suddenly felt a little flushed. She wasn't used to this kind of attention, because no one, apart from her family, hardly ever paid any attention to her. Despite the flattery, she hadn't really planned to grow it out, just because of how cumbersome the long hair might be with her helmet. Pidge sat in her chair and quickly distracted herself with a computer screen readout she brought up.

* * *

 **AN:**

 **Many thanks to jasminejohnson41for supplying many of the questions that resulted in this one shot. This was fun to write!**

 **Just as a heads up, I hope to feature Keith in the next part.**

 **Thank you again, everyone!**


	3. Right-Hand Man

**Right-hand Man**

With the fiasco from those two rebels put aside, the Castle of Lions set forth toward Balmera again. Every bit of free time during their awake hours was time Pidge made full use of, and there were a couple more ideas she wanted to explore now.

The Green Lion sat stationary on her haunches in the work bay apart from the holding area where she would normally recharge in when their services were not needed. This level of tinkering that Pidge did within her had certainly left the other Lions feeling rather uncertain. Skeptical. All within reason though, since the Lions possessed thousands upon thousands of years worth of evolved wisdom and technology as the renowned warrior of the universe. And yet, Green already developed the complete trust to allow her paladin, who was born less that fifteen earth years ago, to go in and improve upon her systems. Pidge possessed an uncanny comprehension of how Altean tech worked, and was able to give her Lion the ability to become invisible to radar and visual detection.

Wary of what she was working with, the redhead often asked first before she opened up the Lion's panels and compartments to see the components inside. Her nimble fingers, careful actions, and insatiable curiosity somehow amused the Lion. Green would reassure Pidge by giving her further understanding in knowing what things were, want could be touched, and what was best left alone. Through this way, they were able to bond closer.

Somehow, this reminded Pidge of when she took horseback riding lessons a few years ago. It was one of those things her mom thought she would like when she was ten. She did, until her Dad had to be restationed to the Garrison Galaxy.

Back at the riding stable she went to, the instructors were very hands on. They taught her the importance about taking care of the horse before and after each lesson too. Grooming was the biggest part, what with the brushing and picking packed dirt out the hooves. She learned how to put on the saddle and bridle, and even hosing the sweat off her horse after a long ride was part of her responsibility. Once she learned the basics, so much of the riding was a back and forth learned set of queues and signals to communicate with her horse, like computer codes. The paladin would often reflect on that when she thought of Green. Riding a thousand pound animal through a course of five-foot tall fences was not too different from flying a ten-thousand pound sentient robotic lion. Coran was right when he said the more they got to know their lions, and their queues, the easier it would be to pilot them in any given situation.

Green now responded to her lightest touch on the handles and controls, and the mental link to see with Green's visual senses, it was amazing to reach that level. Pidge still had to work on keeping that same connection when linked up with the others as Voltron though. That feeling still felt so awkward, especially when bombarded with a flurry of thoughts from Lance and Hunk when something did not go as planned. Those two were supposed to have a more defensive role by staying more focused on keeping Voltron grounded and safe. She and Keith were to supply more of the strategic offensive and defensive maneuvers. No wonder Shiro got so grumpy at times.

"Still need to check this," she said, softly, while moving down to lay on her back in order to get better access to the panel in the cockpit. She wanted to run diagnostics one more time on the cloaking device before actually testing it.

The young tech genius sighed, staring at the read out of the small holographic screen in her hands. It almost seemed like she heard a subtle hum in the cockpit too, as if Green was patiently awaiting the results. The Green paladin remained on her back, pulling her knees up and propped her head by bringing her free arm under it.

The lines and numbers flashing across the screen became mesmerizing, soon loosing meaning to her. She closed her heavy eyelids, as if meditating about them instead would bring clarity. Her mind really had other plans, and decided that getting some sleep instead was more important.

* * *

"Hey Pidge, you here?"

Her eyes flew open, upon being alerted by something. Their previous early morning alarms had trained her to jump awake, even if the rest of her body wasn't. She also felt some movement when Green turned her head.

"Pidge?"

That sounded like Keith. Pidge still did not feel fully awake when she rose to her feet and gripped her pilot chair for more stability. The paladin squinted, looking through the screen as Green was already lowering herself down so Pidge could get out. She saw the Red paladin currently in his black tee and jeans as he stood in the bay.

 _It was Keith. Just Keith. What does he want?_

Pidge stepped down from the ramp, still taking a slight misstep while yawning and readjusting her glasses.

"Um.. you okay?" he looked a little unsure now, apparently noticing how not-awake she looked.

"Just dozed off.. no big deal," she muttered, tugging at her shirt collar with some uneasiness. It was becoming a thing with her now, for them to find her asleep anywhere but not in her quarters. Usually it was Shiro or Hunk who had the honors. "Just making some adjustments."

"On what?" Keith did wonder about, which made some sense since the Lions have their own self-repair diagnostics.

"Setting up a cloaking device for Green, to make her invisible."

Keith's expression then became more dubious. "Could it also make Voltron invisible too?"

"No," she shook her head, because that was an idea she had toyed with also. "All the Lions need to have the components fitted in them. And the likely hood of _that_ happening is slim."

He just nodded in agreement upon that, crossing his arms.

"Need something?" she asked the slender teen.

Keith took a few steps over to lean back on a workbench. His hands then gripped the edge as he looked to the floor. "Just came to apologize.. about earlier."

"Feh.. it's okay now," she picked a couple tools from the floor to put away. Evidently, he was here to talk with her too. Peachy. "Did Shiro put you up to it?"

The Red paladin now glared at her, clearly irked by that question. He sighed in an attempt to shake it, trying to look more relaxed before speaking. "No. I just wanted to say sorry.. about what I said."

"It's okay, really," Pidge huffed, hoping this wouldn't be as awkward as the previous conversations with the other paladins. At least it wasn't about the fact that she was a girl. "But you had a point though. It also would not have been a good idea if I went out on my own."

The Galra were slick, totally catching all of them off guard on the Castle grounds. She felt amazed to have done as well as she did, with Allura's guidance around the castle. However, the chilling thought that she could have been the one falling to her death if it wasn't for Rover spotting her still weighed heavy on her mind.

"It's that… I kind of made the same mistakes myself," Keith's eyes lifted from under the cover of his long bangs to make eye contact with her, when she turned to face him. "At the Garrison."

Pidge watched him, then frowned as she thought that one over. She hadn't paid full attention to how he was kicked out, but it seemed like it could have been when the news hit the air about the failed Kerberos mission. The stories that Lance and Hunk had going between them about what happened could be wrong. This time she resisted the temptation to open up her laptop in order to give him her full attention. "What exactly _did_ you do to get in so much trouble?"

He just shook his head, and took a moment to find the right words. "It was more like.. what I _didn't_ do. After Shiro left on the mission, I kind of lost focus again. My assignments started to fall behind, and Iverson was really.. _really_ finding every way possible to make everything ten times worst for me. It was like he was doing that on purpose!"

The redhead nodded, totally finding agreement in his accusations about Commander Iverson. She also was a little surprised for him to be so candid with her now.

"Then the news hit, and I just.. fell apart," Keith whispered. He appeared distant at that moment too.

"And that's when you picked a fight with Iverson?"

"Yeah," he looked up to make eye contact with her.

"Good. He _deserved_ it," Pidge smiled knowingly.

"Definitely," Keith nodded, a smile playing at the corners of his mouth as well.

That was it, their one agreed-upon fact. Then there was that other thing she just remembered, and wondered if Keith felt the same way that she had. "Did you know right away that the Garrison report was a lie.. about it being Shiro's fault?"

"No," he stood up, and paced a few steps. "The news that they died made me mad, and even more distracted. But… like I said before, it wasn't until _after_ I left the Garrison that I started to notice the energy signatures."

She had realized at that point she never thought or said the word 'died', or 'dead'. Because they weren't. The redhead exhaled sharply, before asking her question in a different way.

"But when you saw the cave drawings and signs, you really had no idea it was Shiro, or something about the Kerberos mission, until _after_ you met us?"

"No.. I didn't. It was all something I sensed.. I didn't really use any tech to know," Keith looked at her. Then it became more apparent as to why he was talking with her. "That's the other reason why I didn't want you to leave the team. It was literally _written_ on the cave walls from long ago about all of this – about something happening – something that had brought us all together as the next Paladins. It would be stupid now to act like this crazy play of fate didn't matter."

"Yeah, you're right," she understood what he meant now. Like her strongest drive had been to find the truth about the failed mission, no matter the risk. Her mom thought she was still in denial, and had trouble accepting what had happened. She even suggested that they needed to see a doctor. But it was not that. Katie was not depressed and hung-up on grief. Then when she finally found the secret video feed in the Garrison's database, it was all the proof she needed to know that there were aliens, and threats larger than any human could fathom.

"That night when I saw the news about the failure of the Kerberos being a pilot _error_ … something just came over me. I just knew the report wasn't what had happened, and I had to find out why and prove them wrong!"

"Well, you have all the proof you need now."

She nodded, pursing her brows. Of course, once they found the Blue Lion and launched into space with it, her mission promptly switched to finding her dad and Matt. If they were still alive, because it worried her to no end imagining what Galra savagery they had to endure by now. The anger and helplessness she felt when Sendak was lashing at Shiro with the electrified whip really opened her eyes to how barbaric they can be.

"We'll find them," Keith stepped forward to place a hand on her shoulder after visibly noticing the concern on her face.

The Green paladin sighed, and showed her appreciation briefly as she looked to him. That gesture helped affirm what Shiro told her about Keith. He was someone who had a hard time being comfortable around people who he wasn't sure about, let alone trust. His concern sounded he finally accepted her as someone he could rely on. She sat down on a stool next to the work table, when she started to wonder about something else.

"How much did the Galra change Shiro? Since you knew him before he went up," Pidge finally asked Keith. It was not a question she could ask Shiro herself. But the more she saw of the Galra, the more she prayed that her dad and brother would be still alive and able to return back to a normal life.

Some uncertainty fell across his face before he answered. "A lot. He keeps saying he doesn't remember stuff, but I wonder if he just says that because he doesn't want me to know how bad it was. Shiro's on edge a lot more too, and has those.. flashbacks."

"Like how he refused to go into the healing pods…" Pidge half whispered, still remembering that terse conversation with him and Allura while the others were tending to Lance. She recognized his traumatic stress symptoms from a cousin on her dad's side of the family who had been a Marine. "Shiro's got PTSD, from being a Galra prisoner for so long."

"Yeah… I'm trying to be ready for it when he starts phasing out. Fighting tends to trigger it a lot more," Keith sighed, hopping up on the table to sit on it.

"Was Shiro like a brother to you?" the Green paladin decided to ask next, just because the way they act. Lance also noticed how Keith called him 'Shiro' right away, and not Takashi or even Officer Shirogane. Even if that could have been his pilot nickname, they were not exactly Shiro's equals. However, Shiro was okay with everyone calling him that.

She also hoped all these questions were not getting obnoxious for Keith like it had been for her when the others were asking questions. Since he had been doing most of the talking so far, she felt okay to continue on.

"Yeah… foster brother, actually," the tone in his voice remained neutral. However, his dark eyes were shifty, and started to not look very confident about holding eye contact with her for a long time. "His family adopted me when I was a kid."

"They did?" Pidge asked, while also raising her eyebrow.

"Yeah," the Red paladin crossed his arms now. He tended to do that a lot, she thought. "Shiro had a way of sticking up for me, so his family took me in. He caught me dumpster diving in the back of his parent's restaurant."

"Weren't you at a foster home?"

"Was… until I ran away."

Pidge shook her head, finding the irony in that.

"They were brutal! Where do you think I got my name from!" Keith's eyes flashed as he unfolded his arms.

"They named you 'Keith'? …eh, you can change that legally, if you wanted too," Pidge decided to inform him.

He shrugged. "Makes no difference… won't change how I feel."

"Really?"

"I was handed off to a foster home after I was born, without a name or a birth certificate. Whoever my mother was, she didn't give a damn! She just wanted me out of her life."

Pidge straightened up, feeling indignant from his angry words about being abandoned. It was justified anger though, because it was not something he could have controlled. It could have been anyone, from a teenager too young to care for a baby to a woman involved in drugs and prostitution. She briefly wondered the latter, because aren't babies the first ones to be adopted? "That wasn't fair.. I'm sorry she did."

Keith shook his head, wrinkling up his nose for a moment. It became clear that wasn't a subject he wanted to stay on. "I could have gotten my last name legally changed to 'Shirogane', but I didn't want to."

"Any reason why?"

"Didn't feel right… because right before I went to the Garrison, my _father decided to find me. He didn't want to take me in though... he wasn't really able too."_

She didn't have to say anything in response to that, so she just nodded. Keith did look more like he was a mix of an Asian race with a Caucasian one, due to the lighter color of his skin and his wavy, almost dark brown hair. The way his eyes would take on a dark plum-purple shade in certain lightening was different too.

"Shiro's family still taught me Japanese though… turns out _shirogane_ also means 'Silver'. His _sobo_ , grandma was so patient. She would call me 'golden child' just because of how I like helping her. _Kogane_ just means 'gold', but _Ko_ can also mean 'child'… It was later that I decided to make her nickname my last name."

Pidge just smiled, realizing what he had explained. That also helped make sense as to where the 'Shiro' nickname came from. "Sounded like you were close to her, like you and Shiro were her gold and silver."

Keith had that innocent smile of acceptance again, and started to look more at ease. His hands gripped the edge of the table for confidence before he spoke.

" _Sobo_ liked me for some reason. She wasn't very good with English, but she liked to show me how to help her with chores. Like she knew that as long I was busy, I didn't get into trouble," he paused just long enough, almost with some regret. "She passed on a couple months before my first year at the Garrison."

"Sorry to hear," Pidge responded, solemnly. Somehow, it also felt he was telling her this to let her know he did have that family connection once. "Do you still keep in touch with your foster parents?"

Keith shook his head no without hesitation. "I never felt comfortable with them, when Shiro wasn't around."

Pidge could tell he didn't really like that question, and let it slide. From what she understood from previous mind-linking, Keith did not go back home to them after being expelled, but instead to the old shack outside of Garrison property. It was very likely he was too ashamed to tell them, and the feeling she had felt was that they must have been very strict. Except then, he had trouble dealing with the solitude.

Just thinking it through, about how it was fate that they came together, made her realize one key detail. A crucial element about Keith that really tied all of them together. And a fact that could get them off this current topic.

"So.. basically, you are The One?"

"The.. what?" Keith looked at her, very much perplexed by that concept.

"Essentially, from what you are telling me, if you hadn't been the type to run away, and if you hadn't gotten to know Shiro and into the Garrison – only to get kicked out of it and then find the cave drawings – then it's very probable we would not even be here."

"Um, okay. Yeah, so I'm.. The One." Keith seemed to get her point now. But he still raised his eyebrow, "Of.. Voltron?"

"Yes," she really didn't need to say much more, and just left him to continue processing that. Even though the Blue Lion just so happened to like Lance enough to be her pilot, it was Keith who really did all the footwork in finding that place and bringing them there to awaken Blue. All that she and Shiro had heard about was rumors about Voltron.

"But if I'm like The One… why did the Galra zone in on Shiro?"

Pidge then shrugged her shoulders as she stood up, reminding him this was just her educated guess. "Maybe you can ask Allura about those details."

"Maybe…"

Keith looked like he was going to say something more, but he didn't. He did slip down from the table, and then turned to look at a couple items on the table. Sometimes he did that as if to make sense of the technical side of things, even though most of it went over his head.

"And you're still here," Pidge didn't know how else to address the fact he hadn't left yet. Because he hardly was ever one to just hang around with her before.

"Hiding," he crossed his arms again.

She looked over the top of her laptop, really finding that response to be strange. Keith was not the type she would think of as 'hiding'. "From who?"

"Lance."

Then again, that paladin was reason enough to hide. But she still had to ask, just because. "Why?"

"He claimed it was my turn to clean the toilets and showers. To settle that, we held three arm wrestling matches.. I won two out of three. Lance swore he was going to ask Coran to set up a chart for all of us to take rotations."

Pidge just wrinkled up her nose at the thought of that, only because she managed to luck out of those chores so far. But why that is even a concern right now, she didn't want to know. She just found it oddly amusing now that Keith thought hanging out with her would be something Lance would not think of when looking for him.

Then the alert for all hands on deck was broadcasted before she could add her two cents. She could only imagine they were getting close to Balmera, and Allura just wanted to debrief before they got battle ready. "Saved by the bell," the Green paladin closed her laptop to take with her.

Keith snorted as he left toward the door to head on up.

* * *

 **AN:**

 **And, that's a wrap on this set. I had fun with the character exploration for this! Especially with the subliminal hints from that famous season 2 quote from Shiro to Keith.**

 **I had noticed something about the last names between Shirogane and Kogane. Both looked Japanese, and the interesting thing? Shirogane means 'platnum/silver', and Kogane means 'gold'.**

 **I still like the idea of Keith being Korean, even though last name sounds Japanese… so I made up this story. And then there are these rumors that he is also part Galra that are spreading like wildfire. I'm not too sure about that, so I left that detail ambiguous.**

 **One more random fact: I train in Korean style Tae Kwon Do. During one belt test, it occurred to me that the belt colors at our school are the same as Voltron's colors. The ranks are Yellow (earth), Green (plant), Blue (sky, or water), Red (sun, or fire), and Black Belt. Coincidence…? ;D**


End file.
